Hello all! Today I’m excited to chat with acupuncturist Mara Carlini about her first five months out in practice. Mara graduated in August 2015 from Finger Lakes School of Acupuncture in Seneca Falls, NY. I’m excited to follow up with her now that she’s in practice.

If you’re an acupuncture student, I hope this article helps you get a feel for what your first six months in practice might be like. I know that in my last year of acupuncture school, I really wanted to be able to picture what the future might realistically look like. I always felt that if I really knew what being a new practitioner would be like, I could plan better. Well, learning from new graduates and hearing their stories is the best way I can think of to answer that for you!…

There are so many concepts that you learn in acupuncture school about running your own practice. Your professors seriously do their best to prepare you. They give you every stitch of wisdom that they can think to impart.

But there are some things that you only realize or learn to deal with once you’re in practice. Let me share with you what I learned from my experience of starting an acupuncture practice four years ago….

When I started my practice, I felt pretty fuzzy about the difference between mission and vision statements. And I had never given any thought as to WHY they were necessary. My general feeling about mission and vision statements was that “people said you should have them if you’re running a business.” So I wrote them and hid them in a binder. Helpful, eh?…